Former Alabama Democratic Gov. Siegelman in solitary confinement again, son says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nov. 2, 2011: In this file photo former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman talks with reporters outside the Federal Courthouse in Montgomery, Ala. (AP)
Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman -- in prison on corruption charges and who got major support earlier this month for a White House pardon -- was put in solitary confinement Monday, his son says.
Siegelman, the state’s last Democratic governor, was transferred to solitary confinement after The Washington Post published a story in which he talked extensively about the Supreme Court this week reviewing former Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell’s 2014 conviction on public corruption, says son Joseph Siegelman.
Siegelman, also his father’s attorney, suggests the timing of the transfer to solitary confinement is suspicious.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bureau of Prison officials would not confirm the transfer but said there was no connection.
"The allegation that Mr. Siegelman was punished for talking to a reporter is false," said a bureau spokesman, who declined to elaborate, citing confidentiality concerns regarding disciplinary matters.
Siegelman said his father had told him he was being punished for three infractions: running a business from prison, misuse of the mail and a catch-all prohibition against behavior that is disruptive of prison operations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Siegelman reportedly sold a T-shirt on eBay for $4,500 that he will use to finish a documentary about his case. According to the note Siegelman posted during the eBay auction, such T-shirts can be purchased at the prison commissary.
He was convicted in 2006 for bribery and obstruction of justice.
The court found Siegelman sold a board appointment to HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy in exchange for contributions to his 1999 campaign to establish a state lottery.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He is serving a sentence of six-plus years in a federal correctional institution in Oakdale, La.
Scrushy has already has finished his sentence.
This is not the first time Siegelman has purportedly been put in solitary confinement. He allegedly was transferred after calling into a talk show in October 2015 to argue his innocence and say he is a victim of Republican politics.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The revelation this week follows more than 100 former state attorneys general asking President Obama, in a letter sent to the White House earlier this month, to pardon the 70-year-old Siegelman.
Former New York Attorney General Bob Abrams said the group thinks the conviction was unjust and tarnished by politics.
Presidential intervention is one of Siegelman's last hopes of getting his prison sentence cut. However, he and his son are also trying to get the Supreme Court to review their case, now that appellate courts have upheld the conviction.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.